MiddNews
Creation of the Portuguese Language School was announced in January one year ago, and the summer program will begin its first session in 2003. As Middlebury's ninth language school, it will be the first new summer program since the Arabic School was inaugurated in 1982.
In February of 2002, trustees authorized the College to move forward immediately with two major building projects.
The new library, now under construction, is located on the site of the old science center. During the summer, blasting removed bedrock from the site, and steel began to go up soon after. As the fall progressed, the rounded profile of the library's campus entrance took shape. For a time-lapse web cam view of the deconstruction of the old science center, go to the Middlebury College Web site at http://et.middlebury.edu/et/science_center/. See also /initiatives/latc for live footage and more information about the construction of the new library.
The Atwater Commons project, consisting of two new residence halls and a dining facility, got underway in midsummer. For more about the Atwater project, take a look at /offices/facility/residential_projects/residential_Atwater.htm.
The College received a $1 million gift from the Felix and Elizabeth Rohatyn Foundation to establish an endowment for the College's Center for International Affairs, which has been renamed the Rohatyn Center for International Affairs (RCFIA). To peruse the RCFIA Working Papers Series, which includes Rohatyn's October 2002 talk titled "Freedom, Fairness & Wealth," go to /offices/rcfia/.
Former United States ambassador to France and a former managing director of the investment bank Lazard Frères & Company in New York, Felix Rohatyn '49 headed the Municipal Assistance Corporation of New York City, where he managed the negotiations that enabled New York to pull itself out of its financial crisis in the 1970s.
During the 2002 spring semester, Middlebury President John McCardell temporarily handed over the reins to Ron Liebowitz, Middlebury's provost. McCardell enjoyed a brief respite from his presidential responsibilities, returning in time to preside at the commencement ceremonies last May.
Commencement on May 26 began in rain but soon yielded to sunshine. Some 556 graduates listened to speaker Dava Sobel, a celebrated author, who told them she envied their generation's opportunity to reach for-and actually attain-the moon.
The Middlebury Magazine received a Gold Medal for Best College Magazine of the Year from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).
The August completion of LaForce Hall and its adjoining dining hall came in time for students to move in upon returning from the summer break. The new building was dedicated at a ceremony held during the College's traditional Septemberfest activities on Sept. 13. To see more about the new building, check out Middlebury's Web site at http://community.middlebury.edu/campusmap/map/map, and select LaForce Hall from the building index in the upper right corner of the screen.
The 570 members of the Middlebury College class of 2006 arrived on campus on Sept. 1, coming from 38 foreign countries, 47 states, and the District of Columbia. Classes began on Sept. 9.
In September, U.S. News & World Report magazine ranked Middlebury College seventh among national liberal arts colleges in its annual "Best Colleges" issue.
The Middlebury College Center for the Arts (CFA) kicked off its 10th anniversary celebration in the fall with a rich array of museum exhibitions, live performances, and special educational events.
In October, an anonymous donor pledged the College $10 million if other donors would commit, by June of 2003, to give an additional $30 million by 2005.
A succession of prominent individuals highlighted the roster of speakers on the Middlebury campus during 2002.
Deborah Tannen, linguist and best-selling author of "You Just Don't Understand," spoke on Jan. 24; Reuben Mark '60, chief executive officer of consumer products company Colgate-Palmolive, gave the David K. Smith Lecture on March 5; Dennis Ross, distinguished fellow and counselor at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and former ambassador and special Middle East coordinator during the Clinton administration, spoke at the Silberman Symposium on May 7; activist and author Elie Wiesel delivered the Fulton Lecture on Sept. 10; playwright Edward Albee spoke on Sept. 19 at the Clifford Symposium; Scott Ritter, former chief weapons inspector for the United Nations Special Commission in Iraq, spoke on Sept. 23; award-winning poet Adrienne Rich read her new, unpublished work on Oct. 3; Felix Rohatyn '49, former ambassador to France, spoke on Oct. 11; White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer '82 spoke on Oct. 13; and celebrated poet and Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney read from his poems on Oct. 28.
Erica Wonnacott, who was the College's dean of students for many years, died on March 9 after a long battle with cancer. Wonnacott assumed the deanship in the early 1970s.
Gordon C. Perine '49, who served the College in a number of capacities for 42 years, died at his home in Middlebury on Oct. 21 following a lengthy illness.
In December, College officials signed a contract for more than $509,000 with Island Pond Woodworkers, whose employees will provide various custom-designed items for Middlebury's new library, including book stack end panels, media stations, and study carrels. The company, located in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, will deliver the first items-the library carrels-beginning in July 2003. According to Don Maiolo, president of the company, the College's contract was instrumental in supporting the resurrection of the Island Pond operation, which was founded by a local group of former Ethan Allen employees who wanted to start their own operation in Island Pond, Vt., after the furniture maker shut down its plant there in July 2001. To read more about it and see photos of the carrels, go to /offices/facility/newsletter.htm.